Rumors
by taylortot
Summary: Of course there would be gossip. Mustang and his lieutenant were suspiciously close after all, but that didn't mean it had to tear them apart. In fact, it brought them closer together. Literally. Royai. One-shot.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing but these insufferable plot bunnies**

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Rumors

It was a cloudy day, dank and humid, promising rain at any moment. Riza wasn't as adverse to the idea of it as perhaps her superior officer might be but even so she stood under the roof of the shooting range to avoid getting wet as it began to sprinkle. Her mind was untroubled today, making it easy to raise her gun and fire perfectly, effectively, hitting every intended point of the target.

Her lips carried the faint curl of a smile as she lowered the weapon; she'd always been a master marksman.

"Nice shot."

Riza looked at the woman who stepped up next to her. "Hello, Rebecca."

"You wanna grab some grub?" Rebecca grinned, pointing toward the door with her thumb. "I heard Colonel Asshat let you have the rest of the day off."

"He's not an asshat," Riza said calmly, trying not to let her amusement show. She turned her body toward her friend and placed her gun on the small table near her hip, her eyes trained on it. Rebecca had never held a long conversation with him before, but she judged him by the extreme hours that Riza worked. No matter how many times that Riza insisted it was her choice to stay as late as she did - that she stayed by his side because she wanted to, not because he asked her - Rebecca always ignored that detail.

"Whatever." The dark haired woman rolled her eyes and shifted her weight but she was still grinning. "Do you wanna go or not?"

Riza didn't really have to consider it; it had been a while since she'd been out on any sort of casual date with her friend and she nodded as the drizzle of rain began to grow heavier. "Sure. I just have to grab a few things from the office."

"Cool; I gotta clock out anyway, so I'll meet you out front." Rebecca grinned at her and then left the range in that purposeful, unsubtle way she had developed so well. After she was gone, Riza cleaned her gun off quickly and left, recalling a few of the things she wanted to tell the colonel and his contingents before she had the rest of the day off.

The rain battered down now, hard and heavy and certainly not very forgiving. The soil sighed in relief, though, gulping the water as fast as it came, unable to get enough. It had been very hot and very dry for the past several weeks and even Colonel Mustang could admit that it was much needed. Not that anyone would ever catch him saying that out loud, of course.

Riza placed her equipment in her locker and was surprised at how light-hearted she felt; it was out of place for her, something so rarely occurring within her that it was almost too strange. She welcomed it nonetheless today, pulling her damp hair from the clip and letting it fall over her shoulder. Her fingers ran through the ends of the tresses for a few moments before she heard voices enter the room; maybe three of them, all speaking with a bitter tone.

"Did you see his face when the secretary thanked him in the hallway?" one said acidly, the squeaking sound of a locker being opened followed her voice.

"He didn't even take the compliment, though," another replied.

"Shunned it right off to that ugly lieutenant of his," said the third.

Riza knew instantly who they were talking about and her eyebrows furrowed at the sour notes in their voices; she was sure she hadn't heard these voices before so they were women she wasn't familiar with. The apparent anger perplexed her a bit as she tried to sift through anything she or the colonel had said or done to warrant this type of reaction.

"I don't understand his infatuation with her," the first sighed.

The second voice - the more reasonable one - piped up. "But maybe she really did do the work?"

"I don't care if she filed every last inch of paperwork in the entire Amestrian military system; he's wasting her time pining after her."

"I doubt he's pining," the third voice spoke up. "He probably just feels sorry for her. Or maybe she's like an obligation. You know all those rumors about how they knew each other before they joined the military."

The first voice was exasperated. "I still don't care what their history is. She's barely even human; have you seen her with a gun? Her fluidity with weapons like that is not natural."

"Then what makes you think he wants her at all? She's so manly. No sex appeal. I highly doubt Colonel Mustang even looks at her and sees a woman," the third added.

Riza quickly grew cold at their discussion and loudly closed her locker door. The three women halted, a tension hanging in the air as Riza came around the corner of the room, on hand resting on the gun in her holster at her hip. She stared at them for a long moment and they stared back, faces white and blank. While she loved that she was respected for her skills, it also bothered her that some people thought she was going to shoot at them every time they said something disagreeable.

"The range is wet. You might want to wait ten minutes for the rain to slow before heading out," she said in a calm voice.

They nodded, and one of them found her voice to say, "Thank you for the advice, Lieutenant Hawkeye."

Riza turned to leave and then thought better of it for a moment. "Perhaps you should limit your conversations to somewhere more private and topics you are better educated in." She gave a slight shrug. "You never know who might hear you."

A tiredness seemed to wash over her as she left. The jealousy and the speculations and the misinformed conclusions surrounding Mustang and Hawkeye were certainly becoming worn and old to her. Knowing the nature of people, she knew that it was far from being over.

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Lunch with Rebecca was a refreshing experience that returned the ease to Riza's day. She pushed the women's ugly banter to the back of her mind where it was all but forgotten and focused instead on the stories Rebecca began to illustrate about her brother, who had found himself wife and would be getting married next year. Riza listened contentedly as her friend recounted the proposal and an exact history of the fiance, piping up and adding appropriately cheerful context when necessary.

Once they'd said their goodbyes, Riza walked home and smiled when a pleased, energetic ball of fur greeted her happily at the door. She placed her things on the counter and bent to pet him.

"There's my good boy," she murmured lovingly, scratching his ears.

She fell into her usual routine and it was well after dinner when she was cleaning her guns, Black Hayate's head resting on her knee, before the patterned knock came at the door. She rose from the table with an excited puppy at her ankles and unlocked the deadbolt before pulling the door open.

"It's a little late for a house call, don't you think, sir?" she said but her eyes flickered with a rare stroke of true happiness, just like anytime she saw him.

Roy Mustang smirked at her and leaned down to pet the dog as he stepped inside. "I came to return your umbrella."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she remembered handing it to him before she left to meet Rebecca, how he'd taken it without fighting like a petulant child as he usually did. "You really couldn't wait to do that until tomorrow morning?"

He gave the dog one last pat and then stood up; he wasn't much taller than her, but when he gave her that hungry look, he never seemed more imposing. "I wanted to see you," he said simply, his voice suddenly low.

Her lips twitched as she turned away from him and went back to her gun in pieces on the table. "You know, I overheard some women today talking about how ridiculous it is that you pine after your lieutenant. You should conceal yourself a little better, Colonel."

"Havoc is too male for my liking."

She looked up to see him removing his jacket with a smirk, placing the umbrella against the wall.

"Apparently, so am I," she said, rolling her eyes at the joke.

He looked genuinely curious, but a flash of amusement glimmered in his obsidian eyes. Riza knew him as well as she knew herself and the fact of the matter was that while the rumors frustrated her, he was deeply entertained by them.

"Enlighten me," he said, moving closer. "What about you is so manly?"

"Well," she started, "I don't really do any paperwork in the office; it's a farce."

He looked offended by that, but jokingly so. "Laziness should never be associated with anyone of the male species."

"In tandem with that, you give me way too much credit," she continued crossing her arms over her chest as he ventured a step closer. She was pushing down a smile.

"You're right, you are absolutely useless."

"The only reason you've kept me enlisted is because you feel sorry for me."

"It's true; I'm sure you'd be much happier if you didn't have to deal with an idiot like me but unfortunately I'm too selfish for that."

She finally allowed a smile as she got to the next point and sat down, putting the scattered parts of the weapon back together. "The way I handle a gun is unnatural." Her eyes looked up at him through her eyelashes as he reached her side, staring down at her. "I have no sex appeal."

He swallowed hard. "Hn."

Her deft hands clicked the last piece of the gun into place and she stood up, her chest brushing against his slightly. Even if she was frustrated with the rumors, this was her favorite game to play with him when no one was watching. "According to my sources, Colonel Mustang doesn't even see a woman when he looks at me."

It was satisfaction that curled in the pit of her stomach as she watched his pupils dilate. He was almost where she wanted him, could see his hands as they trembled slightly against his sides and she shivered slightly as she thought of the things that were going through his mind.

"So I suppose I should ask you, sir, if today's speculation is correct." She pulled her sweater over her head and draped it over the back of the dining room chair, leaving her in just a white tank top and her skirt. After placing the gun back in her holster hanging by the door, she propped her hands on her waist and tilted her hips. "Well?"

He blinked at her and surged forward, an arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her flush against his chest. His free hand gripped the back of her neck and then he was kissing her so viciously that her knees trembled underneath her. Her arms reached up behind his head, tangling her fingers in his thick, dark hair, tugging at the roots, holding him as firmly as he was holding her.

His lips tore away from hers and quickly started down the length of her neck, licking the hollow of her collarbone as she gasped.

"Does this answer your question?" he hummed against her skin, nose brushing her throat as she tilted her head back.

"You ought to illuminate me further," she breathed as his teeth pressed against her. "I'm still not sure I believe you."

"Well, I can't have that," he growled playfully as he hefted her feet off the ground and began to stumble with her down the hallway toward her bedroom.

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The next morning while Riza was carrying today's paperwork back to the office, she caught sight of one of the women who had been at the range yesterday. The fearful look on the woman's face was amusing and exhausting, but Riza could not find it in her to really care one way or another today. She had helped her get laid last night, after all.

The colonel was at his desk when she walked back in the room, uncharacteristically early for a Tuesday, but she nearly smiled nonetheless. Perhaps they would be able to catch up on work that had been accumulating steadily since last week.

"Good morning, Lieutenant." He eyed the stack of files in her hand. "I see you are being as lazy and incompetent as ever." The sparkle in his eye was one of the few things that could warm her heart these days.

"Perhaps you should do something about that, Colonel," she replied with a straight face, the suggestion in her voice low and challenging.

He grinned as Havoc stumbled through the door with a sleepy greeting. "I intend to, Lieutenant Hawkeye."

She placed the paperwork on his desk and left the office to fix coffee for the crew in the break room, stifling a yawn. Two officers were seated at the far corner of the room, mugs of tea in their hands as they talked in hushed, early morning voices. But Riza had good ears and even though she tried not to listen. . .

"Mustang is a ladies' man, there's no way. Plus, the lieutenant is kind of a stickler for the laws anyway," the man went on, oblivious to Riza's presence.

"I suppose. Maybe she's gay. I've never seen her with a man outside of working hours," the woman shrugged and took a sip from her mug.

Riza shook her head and began to place the six cups of coffee on a tray and carried them back to Mustang's office. These speculations about her life were starting to get ridiculous but she supposed it was a small price she had to pay to be Roy Mustang's aide. Besides, the benefits more than made up for it. A memory of last night flashed through her head.

She bit her lip and sighed.

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_Thanks for reading!_


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